2008/06/14

*****Austere beauty, a great singer, September 18, 2000 Reviewer: ST (pensacola, fl USA) As a total fan of M.S. Subbulakhsmi for over 30 years, it is a joy to find a near 'rival', this artist from Tanjore and this form, Padam. It's a style of singing she represents wonderfully, a form that we're told is fast disappearing. Her presentation is languid, leisurely, dignified and charged with the deepest feeling. A special surprise and gem is her rendering of a Sloka in raga Hamsanadi which is counterpart to raag Marwa in the Hindustani system.

*****Tanjore style, September 30, 2003 Reviewer: A music fan Following up on the previous review, more than a "rival," the Tanjore school is a genre of the many schools (others being Karaikudi, etc.) and Aruna Sairam is a protege of this school through her association with the heiress of the great Veena Dhannammal, the late Sangeetha Kalanidhi Smt. T. Brinda (1912-1996). T Brinda along with her sister T Muktha are reputed to be repositories of many padams and javalis, some rarely heard today in concerts.

Listeners can treat this album as an exposure to the Tanjore style, with particular emphasis on rendering of padams, which are difficult pieces of the Karnatic repertoire to learn and perform. In this album, Aruna has rendered 3 of Kshetrayya's padams as well as one of Govindaswamy's. And not precluding the trinity of Karnatic Music, she includes a kriti of Tyagaraja in the Vivadi raga (raga with dissonant notes) Vagadhishvari. And what a thoughtful way to conclude her tribute to her masters with a Sanskrit sloka from the Krishna Karnamrutham of Bilwamangala Lilasuka in a garland of ragas!

The best general primer for the vocal and instrumental music of South India. Compiled by Dr. L. Subramaniam, this four-volume set has excellent booklet notes explaining the wonders of Carnatic music and boasts contributions from many of the genre's greatest exponents illustrating vocal genres or instrumental techniques or instruments. Contributing vocalists include M.S. Subbulakshmi, Trivandrum R.S. Mani, Alathur SrinivasaIyer and T. Mukti. All the major instruments traditionally found in Carnatic music are illustrated -- among others, violin (L. Subramaniam, V.V. Subrahmanyam -- Subramaniam in the text), vina (Raajeshwari Padmanabhan), gottuvadyam (N. Ravikiran), flute (T.R. Mahalingam), morsing or Jew's harp (T.H. Subashchandran), kanjira, that is, a type of small drum (V. Nagarajan), ghatam or clay pot drum (T.H. Vinayakram), jalatarangam or tuned liquid-filled porcelain cups (Seeta Doraiswamy) and clarionet or clarinet (A.K.C. Natarajan). An anthology of great vision, essential for any general appreciation of Carnatic music. (AMG)

2008/06/10

just a couple today, still from the north. those looking forward to the southern vocal music hold tight, we gon get to the karnatic song cycles soon enough. Inde du Nord Shivkumar Sharma - Santurthe master and his instrument with tabla. what is there to say? (original vinyl rip by Op)